I disagree with those of my fellow Jews who think Jews should assist Middle Eastern Muslims in immigrating to the USA.
Those Europeans who advocated subverting legal, orderly immigration policies and welcoming a mass invasion of Middle Eastern strangers — ignoring the plain announcements of ISIS that they were embedding their operatives among the human waves — now seem to be shocked at the only outcome that ever could have been expected, the latest Paris massacre.
They remind me of those mindless Americans who advocate subverting legal, orderly immigration policies, often citing religion or humanistic values as a pretext, in order to accommodate masses whose identity and motives we U.S. taxpayers can’t possibly ascertain as they come en masse, crashing without documentation or authorization across our national borders.
It is not a coincidence that with the importation of Middle Eastern Muslims, there is a rise in concern about anti-Semitism in France and elsewhere in Europe.
There are those who argue that America earlier opened its doors to other immigrants such as European Jews. Well, there is nothing in the Jewish religion that is incompatible with Jews being loyal citizens of a modern democracy that values due process, free speech, freedom of association, and freedom to believe or not to believe in religion.
Islam is the antithesis of this. A committed Muslim believes that Islamic law from the 7th and 8th centuries is to be imposed, unmodified, on believers and nonbelievers alike. Unlike other faiths (such as Judaism, which in its modern form does not adhere to draconian rules of ancient times, such as many propounded in the book of Leviticus), Islam rejects modernizing the faith on grounds that to change any established doctrine is heresy. To advance its domain, Islam propounds the doctrine of jihad, which is not a mere metaphor for battling inside one’s soul. Jihad means violent action to advance the realm of the faith. Islam requires every committed Muslim to accept and submit to this doctrine.
Also, Islam makes a capital offense of apostasy—the giving up of one’s adherence to Islam, either to accept another faith or to give up religion altogether. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution enshrines the right to freedom of expression and of religious belief. In sum, a committed Muslim cannot truthfully swear to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution.
Those who imagine that Middle Eastern Muslims are no different than previous or other would-be immigrants to democratic first-world Western countries are wrong. And as the latest events in Paris show, they are not just wrong, but dead wrong.
— Miriam Klaiman
